This invention relates to hardware for a metal casket.
A casket is formed as a deep, hollow metal shell which is closed by a cap or top. Much effort is expended to provide assurance that the casket is leak-tight so that water cannot leak into the casket when the casket is buried underground. It is also important that body gases not leak out of the casket when the casket is disposed in a mausoleum. Special gaskets have been designed for the engagement of the cap with the shell to prevent leaking around the perimeter of the casket. One of the final steps in the manufacturing process of a casket is to pressure test the, casket with the lid closed upon its shell to determine whether the casket, before it is shipped, is indeed leak-tight.
The casket hardware presents a potential site for leakage. Conventionally, holes are drilled through the wall of the shell. Bolts pass through those holes to mount the hardware to the shell, the hardware providing the handles by which the casket is carried. Washers must be mounted on the bolts to provide a seal around the holes.
The hardware is the point of greatest stress when the casket is handled. There is always the potential for the rupture of the leak-tight seal around each bolt that attaches the hardware to the shell. Wherever a hole is formed in a casket, the potential for a leak exists. Typically, there are 8-16 holes employed in the mounting of hardware. To eliminate such holes is to eliminate potential for leaking.